Apple’s top executives defended the pricey cost of the iPhone 5C, saying the company isn’t in the business of making “junk.”

The iPhone 5C, a colorized version of last year’s model, goes on sale Friday for $550 without a contract. That’s about $100 cheaper than the higher-end iPhone 5S launching the same day.

Analysts and investors alike had hoped the iPhone 5C would cost closer to $350, giving Apple an appealing weapon to wield against companies like Samsung Electronics, which sells smartphones for less than $100 in countries like India, Indonesia and China.

“There’s always a large junk part of the market,” (Cook) says. “We’re not in the junk business.” The upper end of the industry justifies its higher prices with greater value. “There’s a segment of the market that really wants a product that does a lot for them, and I want to compete like crazy for those customers,” he says. “I’m not going to lose sleep over that other market, because it’s just not who we are. Fortunately, both of these markets are so big, and there’s so many people that care and want a great experience from their phone or their tablet, that Apple can have a really good business.”

Consider the prism of history when reading such comments.

Apple for years said tablets were a bad idea; it also said netbooks were a bad business and a race to the bottom. But consumers showed they wanted a product in that price range. In 2010, Apple released the iPad, a tablet that was roughly the price of a netbook. Earlier this year, IHS iSuppli said netbooks are all but dead, blaming the iPad.

Does that mean Apple won’t ever make an even cheaper phone? The truth is likely more complicated than that. But for now, Apple is saying, it is happy sticking to high-end products.

In a separate interview with USA Today, Jony Ive, Apple’s head of design, and Craig Federighi, head of software engineering, delved into the company’s philosophy around design.

Ive gushed over the way iOS 7, Apple’s newest mobile operating system, was created. He said now that customers are used to working on slabs of glass, Apple doesn’t need obtrusive elements in its software, like buttons.

“When we sat down last November (to work on iOS 7), we understood that people had already become comfortable with touching glass, they didn’t need physical buttons, they understood the benefits,” says Ive. “So there was an incredible liberty in not having to reference the physical world so literally. We were trying to create an environment that was less specific. It got design out of the way.”

The article underscores the relationship between Ive and Federighi as well. One often quietly agrees with the other when speaking, (Ive apparently whispered “yes” to something Federighi said at one point), and they both are clearly energized and excited about their work.

There’s also a rather fun kicker at the bottom. The reporter asks Ive what he would design if he couldn’t work on tech.